suggest gunman adam lanza was planning something even bigger. >> how many magazines? >> several. numerous. >> hundreds of bullets? >> hundreds of bullets. >> were they just for the rifle or also for the handgun. >> high capacity for the rifle and multiple magazines for the rifle and multiple magazines for both handguns. >> it is with this backdrop that the president made his way here tonight. for more i want to bring in nbc correspondent drikristen welker. this is far too many times the president has had to do this, the fourth time he's been in this situation. >> reporter: it's hard to imagine. this will be the fourth time he will speak to a community that is dealing with this magnitude of grief, chris. just this summer, aurora, colorado, tucson, arizona, in 2009, ft. hood, texas.

in all of these instances, he spends a lot of time with the family members. talking to them about their loved ones, those who are lost, sharing their memories with them. he talks about the fact that this is an important part of the grieving process and he'll be delivering remarks tonight as he has been in the past. these remarks are going to be focused on the victims, focused on helping this community heal. as you say, this is becoming a grim ritual for this president and for this country. >> one thing he takes seriously, when he travels the country so often, these are tightly scripted in terms of a schedule but what we saw in aurora, colorado, he made it clear, i'm going to spend as much time as i think i need to with these families. >> reporter: i think you're absolutely right, chris. it's something he takes very seriously, and tonight i think he's going to spend a lot of times with these families. 26 families of the victims, and, of course, the first responders as well. so he's just arrived. he's beginning to sit down and

talk to them, hear their stories and share their pain. of course, he does this not only as the president but also as a father. and we were sort of reminded of his dual role today. he went to before he came here one of his daughter's dance rehearsals, sasha. >> what a juxtaposition, to see his daughter, normal family life and then to come here. and you have reported the president has largely written his remarks himself. >> he has. we expect the speech to last about 10 to 15 minutes. this is going to be an address that is really focused on this community, really on behalf of all americans because so much of this nation is in mourning right now for this community. so i think he is here as a representative of the rest of the nation and that's what we expect from this speech. it's not going to get into policy. it's really just going to focus on this community and those who are suffering so much here. >> and even though we're not getting details of exactly what he's going to say, i think in

some ways we got a preview on friday. we saw how emotional he got and how deeply personal he was feeling this tragedy. >> reporter: on friday i think we saw president obama in one of his most emotional moments. he paused frequently to wipe away tears, talked about how painful this was to watch as a parent, so i think that you're right. i think we'll see an emotional president obama again this evening. i spent some time sort of looking back at his past speeches he's given in the wake of some of these tragedies that we just mentioned and he often talks about those who are lost. of course, we don't know what's going to be in the speech tonight, we'll have to wait and see. but i think he often tries to personalize it to bring it home not only to the community but the rest of the nation who's watching. >> so this is scheduled to begin at 7:00 tonight. kristen welker, thanks so much. >> reporter: thank you for having me, chris it's been a little over 24 hours since we heard the names.

let's listen now to how they're being remembered by their loved ones. >> how many lives she was able to touch in her short time here on earth. emilie was bright, creative, very loving. emilie was always willing to try new things other than food. she loved to use her talents to touch the lives of everyone she came into contact with. she e with us an exemptional artist and always carried around her markers so she never miss and opportunity to draw a picture or make a card for those around her. i can't count the number of times emilie noticed someone sad or frustrated and would rush to to find a piece of paper to draw

a picture or write a note. >> he was a member of the congregation. both lovely first graders in that classroom. >> she loved those students more than anything. she didn't call them her students. she called them her kids. she was so close to those kids and she loved them so much. >> that's what she loved the most. she loved the little kids. she was just in paradise even though she was getting paid $75 a day, she was hoping it was a step in the door. >> there have been dozens of vigils and memorials already held in churches and throughout connecticut and even more throughout the country. the outpouring of support is tremendous as this town and the nation together grieve the loss. joining me now is pastor parker reirden with the newtown bible church. thank you for being with us. >> my pleasure. >> it almost seems like a cliche

how communities come together, but there was an image that will be seared in my brain from this morning, a little boy who looked about the age of some of these victims, dressed in his sunday clothes with a bouquet of flowers, parking a long distance away from the memorial and walking with his dad hand in hand to bring those flowers. talk to me about the community and this unspeakable tragedy. >> well, this is a small community where everyone knows everyone else's business and so it affects us. >> how are you finding that people are responding, and what are they saying to you as the leader of their church? >> well, they're just glad that we have a living home through christ to know that when our children die at that young an age that they're with the lord. >> we've seen so many churches hold services. the churches have been overflowing. we know that this interfaith

service was planned by religious leaders throughout this community. what can something like what we're going to see tonight do to help a community? >> well, we just want to be faithful to proclaim god's truth, to help those that are going through the grieving process about life and death and dying. >> and there are very tangible things i know churches have been doing. you're offering counseling, counseling services? >> yes. our doors are open during business hours, by appointment as well by calling the church. we've had friends come up to assist in the grief counseling and we're doing everything possible to help them through. >> i was talking to the rabbi last night and he was saying one of the things that have struck him is how many people have reached out to him and other members of the community. have you found it's not just the newtown community that's resp d responding to this? >> oh, it's a world event. we've got friends from london to croatia and south africa,

sacramento, california, all over the place who are praying and need to have hope in christ. >> and do you find that knowing that people out there are praying for them, that people out there are thinking about them and offering assistance makes a big difference? >> oh, it's very encouraging for them to have that support. >> we have just been told that the president has begun meeting with the families, and we are getting some idea from the producers inside exactly what we are seeing in there, that some of the children have become to come in with their families. and there you see the presidential podium that has been set up. are there words, do you think, that can come from a president or from anyone that can help with the depth of the grief, pastor, that this community is feeling? >> i think it comes through what took place this morning at church when we opened the word of god to give them a substantial hope from god

himself. >> and what would you like to say to people out there who have been trying to figure out what can i do or how can i help? >> to communicate that. we've had people contacting with wanting to help with funeral costs and writing poems from their teenagers, wanting to make sure those get into touch of the children when they get back to school, and we're simply trying to be a lie ason to make that happen. >> pastor parker reirden, i know how deeply felt this is. thank you so much for taking the time to come over tonight. >> my pleasure. >> we really appreciate that. coming up we'll have much more here live from newtown while we wait for the president. we also have new and chilling details from the state police who now believe from evidence found at the scene that this tragedy could have been even worse. all as we get closer to an emotional vigil. president obama, again, here in

newtown to speak, right now meeting with victims' families as well as first responders. we'll have more on that as well just ahead.

i need you. i feel so alone. but you're not alone. i knew you'd come. like i could stay away. you know i can't do this without you. you'll never have to. you're always there for me. shh! i'll get you a rental car. i could also use an umbrella. fall in love with progressive's claims service.

♪ sing in heavenly peace sleep in heavenly peace ♪ a powerful tribute on "saturday night live" to the victims of friday's attack. rather than opening with the usual comedic stretch this starting with the children's choir singing "silent night." i ice chris jansing. they say it will take hundreds of hours though they do remain optimistic about the progress they're making. >> we were successful in seizing

great deal of evidence in this investigation. ail that evidence, every stitch of it needs to be analyzed and it will be, whether it's in our foreign six lnsic laboratory or department or other didn'ts. >> joining me now is michael isikoff. late this afternoon we had another briefing with lieutenant vance with some shocking information that potentially this could have been even worse. the gunman had a tremendous amount of fire power with him, right? >> reporter: absolutely, chris. hundreds of shots were fired in that school by adam lanza, using that bushmaster semiautomatic weapon with multiple high-capacity 30-round magazines that allowed him to shoot repeatedly, not having to reload, 30 shots each time. that is a stunning disclosure by

lieutenant vance and it could have some huge political implications in this debate we've had today about gun control because, of course, one of the main proposals that has been -- that was pushed after the gabby giffords shooting in arizona was some limitations on these multiple high-capacity magazines that allow for mass shootings, and we had it with jared loughner in arizona, and now we have it again here at sandy hook elementary school that and what do we know at this point? and i know investigators are being very cautious, but what do we know about how that morning unfolded, michael? >> reporter: well, there's still a lot we don't know. we do know that he went first to his home and gunned down his mother with multiple shots to the head. then got in his car, went to

that school, basically shot his way into the school. you know, there was a -- that new security system where the front doors were locked, he shot his way through a window adjacent to that door and then went in with those three weapons and started gunning down execution style these young children. the police came while the shooting massacre was under way. >> and we've been reporting for a while, michael, that those guns did belong to his mother. they were legally registered. we got a new interview with a friend of nancy lanza, it's a bar owner in town. someone asked her about being a gun collector, gun enthusiast. here's what he said. >> gun collector, i don't see that as all. she took up target shooting a few years ago and would -- i mean she was a single mom raising two boys, living alone

in a house that's close to the woods. i don't see anything odd that she was a target shooter. and she never made a big deal out of it. >> you know, michael, we've heard so much about the personality of this 20-year-old, how quiet, how shy, yet what do we know about his experience, expertise with guns? >> reporter: very little, but federal agents all weekend long have been going to multiple shooting ranges and gun stores in this area, trying to find evidence that adam lanza may have been there, was he planning this attack, was he practicing for it. this has been a major focus of the investigation as they try to piece together how he came to do this and why he came to do this. look. for all the reporting we've done this weekend and all the

briefings we've gotten, we still have no clue as to what his motive might have been, what drove him to that school and caused him to do this. nobody has shed any light on that, and right now it's certainly the biggest mystery we have here. >> yes. and as lieutenant vance indicated it may be a long time before we have even the beginning of that answer. michael is cougikoff, thank you much. meantime the heroes that have emerged through this tragedy, teachers who gathered, protected frightened children and stood in the path of the killer, last night i spoke to a brother of one of the students who made it out of the school. he could not stop praising his little sister's teacher. >> i cannot emphasize how great the school is and the teachers. i firmly believe they are the reason i was able to hug my sister so tightly. >> joining me here is randi

weingarten. she traveled to support teachers. thank you for being here. >> thank you. >> tell me what you've done here since you've arrived. >> i've spent my afternoon talking and grieving. teachers are in shock. i mean the teachers in sandy hook, you know, this is their instinct. they are incredibly heroic, but everyone's in mourning and everyone's in shock and people are really scared and so you just -- you wanted to just spend the time talking to people, listening to their fears, listening to what they needed to say to us and then figuring out the next steps. and this community has to mourn. the whole world has changed from this, but this community has to mourn. and yet what people would say over and over and over again is that i know i need to survive,

but i need to be better and ready for my children. that's who this community is. it was one of the most emotional days i've ever spent in my lifetime. >> you said you were expected to talk to them for about an hour and you were there for about four hours? >> four hours. they had started earlier in the day. we stopped. there was so much to talk about between what are we going do this week, what do we need to do next week, what do we need to do for our own families. there were some teachers who were locked down in the district, small district. they didn't know why they were on lockdown, yet their kids were getting text messages and they had kids in other schools they wanted to go to but they were protecting their kids. there are a lot of emotions here. i think the main point is there are a lot of people who are going to need a lot of support and the support needs to happen

not just this week and next week but through january, february, and march. this community has been through a trauma, and so, yes, we have to do things in terms of gun control, we have to do things in terms of mental health, we have to do things about the crime scene, but there's been a trauma here. 27 people were murdered on friday. and so we really need to do what we can to support this community through all of this. but the teachers, they're just remarkable. they're remarkable. >> well, the stories that wive heard about those who did not survive are beyond. i mean they had -- this whole thing took like two minutes. and in that period of time they had the wherewithal to in some cases get their kids in a closet, gem them into a bathroom from some of the reports we read in the hart foford core raunlt

front of the gunman. >> lunged at him with a semiautomatic and multiple hits. these kids, the other teachers, both the one who survived as well as the ones who died, they -- this one, victoria soto, there was no room in the bathroom for her and she stayed out of the bathroom to make sure that her kids -- supply closet to make sure her kids were safe and got murdered by this gunman. i mean but look. teachers, we said today we all wondered how -- what we -- our instincts were, but teachers' instincts, public servants' instincts are to protect. that's why we go into this work. but the heroism of lunging for a gunman, the heroism of making sure that your kids are safe, loinging tlo i locking the door, putting a barricade up, not trusting it was the police before you opened the door. >> and not to mention the

stories that i have heard from family members who say that the teachers did remarkable things to keep the kids calm, the kids who were not in the rooms where there were shootings or the kids in other schools which were on lockdown which is a scary thing. clearly they have done so much. what needs to be done for them now? >> well, first off, we need to actually support them in order to support kids. the teachers in this district, both in sandy hook as well as the district are in shock, and they -- we need to spend the same kind of time supporting them, supporting, we have to do everything we can to make sure they feel safe and to make sure that they feel like they can work their way through this. and so for all those who say let's rush back and have tuesday like a regular day, wait a second, there's nothing regular about what happened here, and we need to really pay attention to

the cues that they're giving to us and listen to them and give them the support that they need. we need to make sure people feel safe. we need to make sure people feel like they have the resources to actually work through this. they're all survivors. >> randi weingarten. thank you so much. i'm sure they appreciate your being here and thank you for taking the time to talk to us. we said this is the fourth time in president obama's presidency that he'll be speaking. coming up i'll talk with a man with a personal connection to one of those previous visits and we'll talk a little bit about how this can help the community. [ sniffs ] i have a cold. [ sniffs ] i took dayquil but my nose is still runny. [ male announcer ] truth is, dayquil doesn't treat that. really? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms, plus it relieves your runny nose. [ breathes deeply ] awesome. [ male announcer ] yes, it is. that's the cold truth!

i can tell you he's going to have a bill to lean on because in the first day i will introduce it and the same bill will be introduced in the house, a bill to ban assault weapons. it will ban the sale, the transfer, the importation and

the possession, not retroactively but perspectively and it will ban the same for big clips, drums, or strips of more than ten bullets. >> california senator dianne feinstein announcing on today's "meet the press" that she's ready to take on the gun control issue head on and she expects the president to lead the way. i'm chris jansing. we are live from the newtown high school where in just about 30 minutes the president will participate in an interfaith vigil. he is not expected to address gun violence directly in this appearance. this is a time to reach out to the community that has been zev stated by the deaths of six teachers and 20 small children killed in the sandy hook elementary school. but it has been just over 24 hours when officials have named the victims who will be remem r remembered tonight. we want to take a few minutes to give you tee tails about who these people were.

dawn hochsprung. she was a regular tweeter sending out pictures of her students. officials say she died while lunging at the gunman. mary sherlach was the school psychologist and was with principal hochsprurng. she also ran toward the shooter. nearing retirement her friends said she loved her job. her friends said she was a big miami dolphins fam. lauren was thrilled to get a job teaching as a substitute. they say she wanted to be a teach ber ever she each went to kinder guarden and had been planning to see the hobbit with her boyfriended on friday night. victoria soto, 27 years old, one of the heroes. investigators told relatives she was killed while shielding her first graders from harm. her sister tweeted going to meet mr. obama. wish vickie was here. dressed in all my big sister's

clothes and looking to honor sissy. anne marie murphy described as a happy soul, good wife, mother, and daughter. she loved art and authorities say she also died trying to shield her students. rachel davino also a teacher's aide at the school and just 29 years old. none of the students in what we know about their young lives. emilie parker, 6 years old. her fare said she never miss and opportunity to draw a picture or make a card for someone she thought needed cheering up. he said she was a mentor to her younger sisters. 6-year-old noah pozner was smart as a whip and ram buchk us the according to his uncle. his funeral is tomorrow. he has a twin sister and an older sister. olivia engel, a family friend says she was a teacher's pet with perfect manners described charmingly as a wiggly smiley

6-year-old. emily marquez-green. her family moved to connecticut just two months ago. they released this video of her singing. >> 1, 2, 3, ready and go. ♪ come down almighty king ♪ ♪ glorious aol all victorious come and pray over us ages of age ♪ ♪ amen >> 7-year-old chase kowalski. his family said he was always outside playing in the yard, riding his bike. he had just won his first mini triathlon. daniel barden was also 7. his family remembers him as always smiling, incredibly

affection at and fareless. they say he earned his ripped jeans and missing two front teeth. 6-year-old dylan hockley and his family just moved to the area in january of 2011. he has an older brother jake. catherine hubbard also 6, the first grader's parents wrote in a statement, we are greatly saddened by the loss of our beautiful daughter. 6-year-old jesse lewis was described as a jokester at heart, a neighbor sayings if you were in a bad mood he could pull something out of left field and put a smile on your face. 6-year-old jack pinto loved wrestling. the newtown wrestling association tweeted out the loss of one of its younger members. jessica rekos was also. his father wrote on facebook. the family of 6-year-old benjamin weller left connecticut just before he was born and he

has an older brother nate. there are more students we hope to hear about. 7-year-old grace mcdonald. charlotte bacon who was just 6 years old. joes feef gay, 7, madeleine hsu. turned 6 in july. carolyn previdi celebrated her 6th birthday in september. av yet turned 6 in ochlt feej allison wyatt, just 6 years old when the gunman took her life. as we've said when president obama speaks at the vigil here in about half an hour, it will be the fourth time he has comforted a community greeshing from the mass shooting. it also won't be the first time he's talked about the loss of an innocent child as was the case when he visited tucson, arizona, after the shooting rampage that left six people dead and congresswoman gabby giffords and 12 others wounded. >> and then there is 9-year-old

christina taylor-green. christina was an "a" student, she was a dancer, she was a gymnast, she was a swimmer. she decided that she wanted to be the first woman to play in the major leagues. and as the only girl on her little league team, no one put it past her. >> joining me now is bill heilemann, the husband of suzy who brought christina taylor-green to meet gabby giffords. susan was one of those wounded. bill, thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> first of all let me ask you how your wife is doing. know her hip was shattered and in an interview, she talked about being haunted by what happened. how are both of you doing right now? >> suzie is very occupied and

has been all along with her physical rehab, which she devotes five, six days a week to and is slowly trying to get her gait back in order. more importantly, though, she has tried to take the -- the energy that kind of gets brewed out of incidents like this and tried to turn it into something positive as have many of the victims, and she's devoted herself to a nonprofit that she's gotten started. and has gotten very involved with getting seniors in tucson to be mentoring underprivileged kids and get involved with their lives. so you look for ways to try to take something that's just this horrible and turn it into something positive for the community. >> it is always amazing to me the strength that people show and the compassion in turns something like what happened to your wife into something good. i'm just wondering when you

heard what happened here in newtown, can you even put into words what went through your mind? >> i personally learned about it when there was an interview going on with a father who was at the stage of not knowing yet what consequence his child was, and i very much harken back to being in the emergency room myself when the tucson event happened and spending those very uncomfortable hours before any of us were notified specifically as to what the results of our loved ones were. the angst, the fear, and the terrible, terrible bottomless sadness that comes out of this is something impossible not to relate back to these people and had the awful sense of here we duo again. >> so many people tried to help. i know your wife could rchlt attend by president obama and the first lady did visit her in

the hospital. do these things matter, can they help? >> they helped tremendously. we met separately with the president and first lady. i was already down at the mchale center was suzie was visited in the hospital, but the most poignant element she describes is mrs. obama sitting down on the bed next to her and they started to talk about christina and what kind of a child she was and suzie absolutely got lost in the emotion of it and mrs. obama literally took her in her arms and said go ahead and cry it out, that she had all the time that was needed. they were incredibly warm and nurturing, and it was -- we always have felt it was almost the beginning of our therapy in trying to learn to cope with this. >> well, it is left to the president to do this again sadly. bill he heilemann. thank you so much. thanks to your wife and the

project she has started. thank you so much. >> thank you. and all our blessings to the people of sandy hook. >> thank you. straight ahead, the timeline of events that tragic day at the elementary school. we will have that for you. and we are waiting for the starting of the vigil at newtown high school. the president here to try to help the community grieve the loss of its most innocent citizens. we'll be right back.

it's so sad for all the kids to know that maybe your teacher is gone. >> we don't know what to do or feel. we'll see. >> those are twin sisters speaking before they released balloons in the newtown school colors to show support for families who lost their children. so many people and organizations

trying to reach out as they can. inside the auditorium at newtown high school, you see kits holding little dogs, stuffed animals. those are being handed out in the lobby by the red cross. and while this is going on we're learning more about what happened at sandy hook on friday, desperate efforts there to try to save as many children as possible. i'm joined now by nbc's justice correspondent pete williams. pete, slowly more information is starting to come out. what's the latest? >> well, chris, there's been lots of conflicting information in official channels about what exactly happened. so much remains unknown, but we do think now we have a good idea of how these events unfolded. the horrifying sequence officials say begins friday morning. they don't know what time when adam lanza takes hundreds of rounds of ammunition and four

firearms from his gun enthusiast mother and uses one of them to kill her, nancy lanza, perhaps while she lie sleeping. before leaving he damages his computer. investigators are trying to retrieve what he stored. just before 9:30 he loads the ammunition and guns into his mother's car and drives the roughly five miles to sandy hook elementary. it's place they say he knows from his childhood. >> he had a relationship to the school, had attended there. at least that's what i'm led to believe. but beyond that now, we really don't know a whole lot. >> relatives say hi once volunteered there, although there's apparently no record of that. he's carried two handguns and a bushmaster ar-15 h style rifle with several high-capacity magazines, each able to hold 30 rounds. the school door is locked, state officials say, o adam lanza blasts hi was in with a rifle,

shattering the window. the alarm startles principal hochsprung and mary sherlach. they come running and are immediately killed. he turns left away from the auditorium and toward the kindergarten and first grade classrooms. he heads to the classroom of lauren rousseau. she and 14 kids are shot and killed. he heads to another room. two other teachers rachel devino and anne marie murphy always are killed. the horror is over in ten minutes, they bleerchlt lanza shoots himself in the head as they stormed in. >> the bush h master was used on the school in its entirety and the handgun was used to take his own life. >> authorities say that although adam lanza fired his rifle hundreds of times inside the school, he had more ammunition

left to keep going. he was stopped only when he heard and saw the police coming for him. chris? >> pete williams, thank you for that update. let's bring in now clint van zandt, a former fbi profiler. clint, one of the questions we had for the fbi earlier is when will we know why? of course, that's always the most complicated parts of this. what are the outstanding questions that you think will help them begin to understand? >> well, the why is really the challenge, chris. we look at every one of these. you and i think back to -- remember the amish school shooting in nickel mine, p.a. that took place in 2006. five little girls murdered. five little girls wounded. and even though the killer left notes, the notes didn't jive with history. it was like he made up his own reasons why he did the shooting then. and, chris, we've seen -- this

is the fifth school shooting that's taken place in the united states although some will say this was a shooting in a school, not a school shooting. one way or the other, it happened. we've had 13 mass shootings in the united states. you know, the victims were shot anywhere from 3 to 11 times. chris, you know what? i am mad. i am angry as an american, as a father, and a grandfather, and i've got nothing to take my anger out on because the killer shot himself, but i do know we've got assault rifles, high-capacity magazines, mental health issues, conflict resolution skills, violent movies, video games, tvs, songs, all of these many times contribute to a person. so anybody who says well we can fix it just by eliminating high-capacity magazines, we're trying to put a band-aid on a major mental health, physical

health issue, chris. >> would it surprise you if in the end he had not written anything about his plans, if there was nothing on his comp e comput computer? it doesn't seem like he was a prolific user of social media even though people who went to school with him say he would walk down the halls literally clutching his laptop. >> and, you know, he did commit suicide at the end. one of the things i did in my life is volunteer on the suicide hotline. i'd take the weekend because that's when most would call in. what we know is only 40% of those who commit suicide ever leave a note or a message. so the terrible thing is many people like this shooter perhaps have made the decision to take the secret, the reason, the motive to the grave with them. >> nbc news analyst clint van zandt. thank you so much. >> thank you, chris. >> and we're approaching the top

of the hour when this community will mourn the 26 part-time killed at sandy hook elementary school. 900 people inside the room you're looking at right now. many of them children. there's an overflow room in the gymnasium where people can be nearby and watch this. so many people in the community wants to come together for what was planned as an interfaith service and now, of course, taking on additional meaning with the president's appearance. we will take a closer look when we come back. sometimes what we suffer from is bigger than we think ... like the flu. with aches, fever and chills- the flu's a really big deal. so why treat it like it's a little cold? there's something that works differently than over-the-counter remedies. prescription tamiflu attacks the flu virus at its source. so don't wait. call your doctor right away. tamiflu is prescription medicine for treating the flu in adults and children one year and older whose flu symptoms started within the last two days.

before taking tamiflu tell your doctor if you're pregnant, nursing. have serious health conditions, or take other medicines. if you develop an allergic reaction, a severe rash, or signs of unusual behavior, stop taking tamiflu and call your doctor immediately. children and adolescents in particular may be at an increased risk of seizures, confusion or abnormal behavior. the most common side effects are mild to moderate nausea and vomiting. the flu comes on fast, so ask your doctor about tamiflu. prescription for flu.

these are live peace rivers

outside of newtown high school where a vigil will be held. reports saying we have been greeting people with hugs and tears as they wait for president obama who will speak, trointrodd by connecticut's governor dan malloy. we are remembering those who were killed, 20 children, 6 adults. my colleague michelle franzen has been looking at their stories. good evening. >> reporter: good evening to you chris. no doubt, a very emotional time in the high school tonight as you mentioned the people grieved and also they pay tribute and remember the loved ones that died, including six women, teachers and school staffers including the principal who gave their lives trying to protect them, protect their children and students from the gunman when he stormed in. that also includes first grade typer vickie soto. today we've heard from her family talking about her spirit, how she was determined to hide the children in a cabinet and

try to shield them, of what they've been told, and they wanted to remember what she loved in life. >> her favorite color was green, not a very common color that people love, but she loved it so everyone in our family are wearing green scarfs for her. we had green ribbons made and at her candlelight services were made, we passed out green ribbons that were made in honor of her. >> reporter: family members determined to start letting the public know some of what they've known all their lives, the loved ones who we're now getting to know, chris. >> heartbreaking and extraordinary stories. michelle franzen, thank you very much. and so we know that the president has been meeting with families of the victims as well as first responders and as we saw from his time in aurora, colorado, he takes the team he feels he needs to comfort those

who have been through this unspeakable act. he traveled with his senior adviser david plouffe, joe lieberman, press secretary jay carnie and also traveled with two members of the congressional delegation. we're going to be hearing from him sometime around the top of the hour. this service will get under way. we will be back with live coverage from newtown, connecticut, after this. look, if you have copd like me, you know it can be hard to breathe, and how that feels. copd includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. spiriva helps control my copd symptoms by keeping my airways open for 24 hours. plus, it reduces copd flare-ups. spiriva is the only once-daily inhaled copd maintenance treatment that does both. spiriva handihaler tiotropium bromide inhalation powder

does not replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms. tell your doctor if you have kidney problems, glaucoma, trouble urinating, or an enlarged prostate. these may worsen with spiriva. discuss all medicines you take, even eye drops. stop taking spiriva and seek immediate medical help if your breathing suddenly worsens, your throat or tongue swells, you get hives, vision changes or eye pain, or problems passing urine. other side effects include dry mouth and constipation. nothing can reverse copd. spiriva helps me breathe better. (blowing sound) ask your doctor about spiriva.

you're looking at newtown high school where a vigil will be held. good evening. i'm chris jansing.

the nation as well as this community tries somehow to come grips with the shootsing that took the lives of 26 people including 20 children, all of them 6 and 7-year-old first graders. worshippers filled sunday services today trying to take some solaces in houses of worship across this town of 27,000 people. we saw memorials spring up on front lawns and in roadside tributes. the local art teacher created wooden angels to represent the lives lost in this tragedy. tonight president obama will try to assist in the healing not just of newtown but, of course, of the country. this horrible event hits all americans so personally. and this community remains in a state of stunned disbelief, although tonight they are trying to somehow begin to move forward by remembering memorializing those they have lost and bringing to life the memories they leave behind.

nbc's white house correspondent kristen welker is with me now and this service was supposed to start right now. but i understand the president is still with the families? >> reporter: he's still with the families and it's not surprising, chris. this is the fourth time he will visit a community in the wake of a mass shooting like this which has so devastated one of our american communities, and he often spends a lot of time with the families, talking with them about their loved ones, their healing process, and he'll also be meeting with first responders. of course, in this case, there are so many lives that have been lost, so many young live, 26 families he's got to meet with. so it's not surprising that he's running late. >> we talked about this before. you could see how personally he took this on friday when he addressed the citizens of newtown and the country, lou ho emotional he was. you juxtapose that with his life, going to rehearsal for sasha's dance, right? >> r